Economic Black Hole: 20 Reasons Why The U.S. Economy Is Dying And Is Simply Not Going To Recover

By Michael Snyder, on January 21st, 2010

Even though the U.S. financial system nearly experienced a total meltdown in late 2008, the truth is that most Americans simply have no idea what is happening to the U.S. economy. Most people seem to think that the nasty little recession that we have just been through is almost over and that we will be experiencing another time of economic growth and prosperity very shortly. But this time around that is not the case. The reality is that we are being sucked into an economic black hole from which the U.S. economy will never fully recover.

The problem is debt. Collectively, the U.S. government, the state governments, corporate America and American consumers have accumulated the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world. Our massive debt binge has financed our tremendous growth and prosperity over the last couple of decades, but now the day of reckoning is here.

And it is going to be painful.

The following are 20 reasons why the U.S. economy is dying and is simply not going to recover….

#1) Do you remember that massive wave of subprime mortgages that defaulted in 2007 and 2008 and caused the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression? Well, the “second wave” of mortgage defaults in on the way and there is simply no way that we are going to be able to avoid it. A huge mountain of mortgages is going to reset starting in 2010, and once those mortgage payments go up there are once again going to be millons of people who simply cannot pay their mortgages. The chart below reveals just how bad the second wave of adjustable rate mortgages is likely to be over the next several years….

#2) The Federal Housing Administration has announced plans to increase the amount of up-front cash paid by new borrowers and to require higher down payments from those with the poorest credit. The Federal Housing Administration currently backs about 30 percent of all new home loans and about 20 percent of all new home refinancing loans. Tighter standards are going to mean that less people will qualify for loans. Less qualifiers means that there will be less buyers for homes. Less buyers means that home prices are going to drop even more.

#3) It is getting really hard to find a job in the United States. A total of 6,130,000 U.S. workers had been unemployed for 27 weeks or more in December 2009. That was the most ever since the U.S. government started keeping track of this statistic in 1948. In fact, it is more than double the 2,612,000 U.S. workers who were unemployed for a similar length of time in December 2008. The reality is that once Americans lose their jobs they are increasingly finding it difficult to find new ones.

#4) In December, there were also 929,000 “discouraged” workers who are not counted as part of the labor force because they have “given up” looking for work. That is the most since the U.S. government first started keeping track of discouraged workers in 1949. Many Americans have simply given up and are now chronically unemployed.

#5) Some areas of the U.S. are already virtually in a state of depression. The mayor of Detroit estimates that the real unemployment rate in his city is now somewhere around 50 percent.

#6) For decades, our leaders in Washington pushed us towards “a global economy” and told us it would be so good for us. But there is a flip side. Now workers in the U.S. must compete with workers all over the world, and our greedy corporations are free to pursue the cheapest labor available anywhere on the globe. Millions of jobs have already been shipped out of the United States, and Princeton University economist Alan S. Blinder estimates that 22% to 29% of all current U.S. jobs will be offshorable within two decades. The days when blue collar workers could live the American Dream are gone and they are not going to come back.

#7) During the 2001 recession, the U.S. economy lost 2% of its jobs and it took four years to get them back. This time around the U.S. economy has lost more than 5% of its jobs and there is no sign that the bleeding of jobs is going to stop any time soon.

#8) All of this unemployment is putting severe stress on state unemployment funds. At this point, 25 state unemployment insurance funds have gone broke and the Department of Labor estimates that 15 more state unemployment funds will likely go broke within two years and will need massive loans from the federal government just to keep going.

#10) The number of Americans who are going broke is staggering. 1.41 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009 – a 32 percent increase over 2008.

#11) For decades, the fact that the U.S. dollar was the reserve currency of the world gave the U.S. financial system an unusual degree of stability. But all of that is changing. Foreign countries are increasingly turning away from the dollar to other currencies. For example, Russia’s central bank announced on Wednesday that it had started buying Canadian dollars in a bid to diversify its foreign exchange reserves.

#13) The U.S. is facing a pension crisis of unprecedented magnitude. Virtually all pension funds in the United States, both private and public, are massively underfunded. With millions of Baby Boomers getting ready to retire, there is simply no way on earth that all of these obligations can be met. Robert Novy-Marx of the University of Chicago and Joshua D. Rauh of Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management recently calculated the collective unfunded pension liability for all 50 U.S. states for Forbes magazine. So what was the total? 3.2 trillion dollars.

#14) Social Security and Medicare expenses are wildly out of control. Once again, with millions of Baby Boomers now at retirement age there is simply going to be no way to pay all of these retirees what they are owed.

#15) So will the U.S. government come to the rescue? The U.S. has allowed the total federal debt to balloon by 50% since 2006 to $12.3 trillion. The chart below is a bit outdated, but it does show the reckless expansion of U.S. government debt over the past several decades. To get an idea of where we are now, just add at least 3 trillion dollars on to the top of the chart….

#17) It is going to become even harder for the U.S. government to pay the bills now that tax receipts are falling through the floor. U.S. corporate income tax receipts were down 55% in the year that ended on September 30th, 2009.

#18) So where will the U.S. government get the money? From the Federal Reserve of course. The Federal Reserve bought approximately 80 percent of all U.S. Treasury securities issued in 2009. In other words, the U.S. government is now being financed by a massive Ponzi scheme.

#19) The reckless expansion of the money supply by the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve is going to end up destroying the U.S. dollar and the value of the remaining collective net worth of all Americans. The more dollars there are, the less each individual dollar is worth. In essence, inflation is like a hidden tax on each dollar that you own. When they flood the economy with money, the value of the money you have in your bank accounts goes down. The chart below shows the growth of the U.S. money supply. Pay particular attention to the very end of the chart which shows what has been happening lately. What do you think this is going to do to the value of the U.S. dollar?….

#20) When a nation practices evil, there is no way that it is going to be blessed in the long run. The truth is that we have become a nation that is dripping with corruption and wickedness from the top to the bottom. Unless this fundamentally changes, not even the most perfect economic policies in the world are going to do us any good. In the end, you always reap what you sow. The day of reckoning for the U.S. economy is here and it is not going to be pleasant.

Awesome article. I am going to throw it up on my website with a link back to yours with a litle commentary from me. Please tell me if this is OK.

People are not at all ready for the coming depression and we’re going to see a post earthquake-Haiti environment in many US cities in the next couple decades — straight out of the movie ROBOCOP — I tell you that!

The U.S. economy is doomed…. America will not wake up from this coma unless the second great depression is advanced. We need the depression to occur sooner rather than later. So we can make up for the debt driven society that has occurred since America was first introduced to credit cards, adjustable rate mortgages and 100% financing on every doodad on earth…

Patriot

“straight out of the movie ROBOCOP”

I’ll buy that for a dollar!

h5mind

The money supply is increasing exponentially because they are monetizing debt– this will quickly spiral beyond the control of anyone– including the government– to do anything about it. One point not mentioned is that ALL governments with shaky financials (i.e., high debt/GDP ratio) will see their fiat money decline too, as people start to think, “If it can happen to the almighty US dollar, it can certainly happen to the peso, ruble, or euro.” Before the crash, please buy anything you and your family will need to survive– food, commodities, hand tools, medicines, band-aids and razor blades– as all will soon be much much more expensive. And don’t be fooled by the pullback in precious metals– those too will be a good store of welath in the months and years to come.

The U.S. will virtually need a miracle to pull out of this one unscathed.

Tooth is stranger to friction

In the days when Social Security was truly voluntary, it was considered ‘good form’ to turn it down, since a person was expected, and could EXPECT to stand on his/her own two feet and make enough money during their lifetime to provide for their own retirement.
Now that Social Security is a “birthright” a person can expect and is expected to provide for their own funeral.

TimeTraveler

You have sited many good reasons for this economy to dissolve, and I agree with all of them. I will add a few more main points that I have reason to believe that will bring about the complete implosion of this holographic monetary system. It will be soon!

We have gone from a working model of capitalism up until1913, when the Federal Reserve came into fruition under the guise of the Rothchilds, who basically from that time until now have seen to the wreckage of our dear Republic thru greed and corruption, and the need for power and enslavement of the human population.

There is always a warning sign of dire things to come. Dubai World was that warning sign. It was the canary in the mineshaft, and is now lying lifeless at the bottom of its gilded cage. It was a sign that this fake holographic system we call a world economy is not real. Its a contrived system brought about by Goldman Sachs and the economic gangsters of the Federal Reserve, and the evil cabinet that presides over this presidency.

There are $600 trillion of derivatives sitting in every major bank of the world. More than all the world GDP combined. It is worhtless hedges of a gambling casino that Wall Street has been thriving on. As the dollar dissolves so does all this worthless paper. It will implode soon, and when it does, it will take down the whole world with it.

World consumption is at a standstill, only being propped up by trillions of dollars loosing its value every day.The bond market will crash soon, as the world tries to unload the dollar, but its too late for them also.

The Dow is overblown and will crash soon, as the Feds can no longer prop it up with fake bottom lines. These corporations are not making money, for the American consumer is lying on a gurney barely breathing. Christmas retail was a joke, and you will see a crush of more retail stores going under. Commercial property will plunge in value as stores and malls sit empty. Unemployment will skyrocket to over 30% soon.

The Comex and the whole Ponzi scheme it represents will go bust soon. As short and long contracts are called in, they don’t have the gold to ship. The US and London are toast. Fort Knox is holding nothing but gold plated tungsten bars, and London is in the same fix, no gold. Hong Kong and Germany have requested their gold, good luck. The con game is over.

Most of the states in this country are bankrupt, with no tax base to keep them going, as is the Federal government and the Federal Reserve, as they are cooking two sets of books.
There is no way for Bernanke to print enough money to bail out every state and keep the major banks upright while a new tsunami of commercial, residential, auto loan, and credit card defaults race their way. AIG, Fannie and Freddie are toast as these tsunamis of bad paper unwind, and the Feds will be hard pressed to bypass Congress to bail them out further. The realstate, auto, and insurance busineesses are all going to tank. And as you have stated, the pension plans will go bust.

There is also food shortages coming this year that will put the average consumer hard pressed to buy any food, as the price goes up, if there is much on the shelves to buy. These will be dire times ahead for the whole world, as hyperinflation is nearing.

truthseeker

it times like these- this is where they release the dogs. In the great depression they would confiscate food from vendors and dump it in the river- and shoot at anyone who attempted to recover the food- now obama proposes to bulldoze neighborhoods- to artificially raise the value of real estate- looks like the whole fema camp theory is going to be implemented shortly. And for those of you who say, “Nah, its just a conspiracy theiry- the government would never hurt us” get ready for your whipping- look around- most prisoners or people under the “justice” ever, no agrarian society, social security money already spent- the tanks are coming…

JUSTICE FORALL

The writer forgot one thing: perhaps the most important that has been bankrupting us: illegal aliens who have been costing us over $346 BILLION (YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY: BILLION) A YEAR! I truly believe that this was an agreement between Bush and Mexico and the globalists (Bush’s dad made a video where he says how they are going to make a One World Gov’t/Order) and Bush actually signed something “merging” us with Mexico and Canada but got caught at it before it could be implemented. The agenda is to make Unions (as in European Union, S. American Union, Asian Union, African Union, etc. and eventually combine all the Unions to make a One World Gov’t dictatorship! and the Elites want to RULE THE WORLD AND MAKE US INTO THEIR SLAVES! THEY HAVE TO BANKRUPT THE MIDDLE CLASS OF THE U.S. TO TAKE OVER AND THEY HAVE DONE THAT! WAKE UP AMERICA!!!

My dad is a Pole still living in US. He laughed upon my suggestion that US might be corrupt. His answer covered the fact that in fact US has pretty strong anti corruption laws. But this is only on the surface of the grander scheeme of things of this military industrial complex, run by insurance companies and held hostage by Wall St.

Sipapu

Micah 6:11 – Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?
Proverbs 20:23 – Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false balance is not good
O I want to see real money that has real value and will be glad to see the currupt system fall
Deuteronomy 23:19 – Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury:

Ezekiel 22:12 – In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.

Sub-prime is one of the effects, not the cause. In the present structure of the economics, it is the demand and supply network of the market condition that has reached to the saturation point, not the financial system.

If it is the internal error of the financial system that has reached to the saturation point then there is no doubt that ending the FED or changing the global reserve currency will help humanity to overcome the crisis.

Nevertheless, if it is the demand and supply network of the market condition that has reached to the saturation point then there is a need to take precaution before the sudden meltdown of the global currency system. If you are interested to discuss this matter in-depth, please let me be informed. I have already written about the exact nature of the forthcoming collapse and it’s after shocks.

Please understand that there is no more time left for all of us to handle the situation. Whenever we are talking about the centralized financial system or the FED, we also must know that it is the forefathers of the Fed who gave birth to capitalism by funding the renaissance. Nevertheless, now their appointed term is over.

Karl Marx says, “Each stage is necessary, and therefore justified for the time and conditions to which it owes its origin. But in the face of new, higher conditions, which gradually develop in its own womb, it loses its validity and justification. It must give a way to a higher stage which will also in its turn decay and perish”.

Indeed, the great Renaissance of the 18th century was associated with the attractive character of capital and its birth time gravity. The forthcoming Renaissance of the 21st century will be associated with the repulsive character of capital and its death time gravity. In other words, the law of repulsion is connected with the law of detachment.

In future, the strong compressive wave of financial repulsion will give birth to a sudden change in the psychological velocity, density, pressure and temperature of the entire humanity and will spiritually move towards the absolute truth of the absolute science.

“The constitution of the Universe may be put in first place among all the natural things that can be known”. – Galileo

Note: The day of the collapse will be so horrible that every human being on earth will witness an unpredictable hyper (tension) attack in the brain cells that will kill the human greed forever. Only when the greed fulfills its need; the age of greed will be over. This is an absolute Truth that functions in nature in tune with human psyche.

This above change will occur within a single day when the appointed age of greed will witness a grinding halt on the ‘Day of Judgment’. It is very surplice to know that our ancient ages realized that only the death of money could become the beginning of character.

gbluff

For a real time look at the numbers I find it disturbing to watch the Real time debt clock. The numbers are ridiculous. The underfunding of medicare, prescription plan, and social security is insurmountable. Using Our current GDP numbers as a guide it would take 107 years to break even.
Additionally Unfunded US gov. responsibility is increasing by 1 million every 11 seconds.

The financial markets, with the derivatives debacle hanging like the sword of Damocles over the entire system could collapse at any second and represents the single greatest threat to worldwide stability. When that shoe falls, 637 trillion dollars, It’s gonna hurt.

Thanks for posting your site to make others aware of their future financial concerns.

You only forgot to mention the reckless spending on wars is rapidly making the World adverse to the US dollar, and US corporations, making everybody dump the dollar and US stocks. It’s NOT about Anti-Americanism, it’s about Anti-Warmongering, and Anti US Federal Corruption. And the fact the world now perceives as reality that 911 was actually an inside job, and that the perpetual War OF Terror can be translated as the perpetual War ON BS spending out the World. Therefore the complete CRASH will come sooner than expected.

God save this world!

Bill Boswell

I concur with all you’ve said. I only have one question. How does the Massachusetts Miracle impact these projections? Does it mean that the American voters are ready to step up and shoulder responsibility and thus mitigate the negative impacts by going ahead and pulling back from the brink and drastically shrinking government, then living with those consequences? Hmmmm….

Admin

We can certainly hope that what happened in Massachusetts will help in Washington, but the truth is that both parties have been fumbling the ball for decades.

robert

for all my patriot friends and christian bible believers that KNOW JESUS IS GOD

buy a cookstove there are all kinds of new cookstoves on the market

I have the pioneer maid cookstove with warming closet and water heater jacket

and they are blind to whats happening all around them
I AM A PATRIOT christian man

and I am single and live in the country

I will support my brothers if the time comes we have land for food
wood for heat

and we are here

Charles Ponzi

Well, the second wave looks Aproximately the same order of magnitude as the first. [sub prime]. With all of the taxpayer money that was paid to the banks that they haven’t lent out, and they have still not been forced to realize losses on any of the sub prime, what are the chances that they can absorb most of this second wave with that money parked at the fed and keep extending and pretending for god knows how long ? They’ve already proven that they can keep this ponzi scheme afloat much longer than anyone so far has predicted.

Mark123

Normally I read these articles and laugh at the “Doom & Gloom” all while saying, “The US has overcome these problems before with innovation”… But I’ve got to say, due to the reasons presented in this article—- As a nation—As a people—We’re in very big trouble…..

David Preston

You have some very interesting and accurate observations, but I don’t necessarily concur with your conclusion. The American people are awakening. I think that there are going to be a lot of changes (for the better) made. If we can quickly pass the Fair Tax, we can then begin to work on how our government is spending money. Don’ minimize the revolution that is taking place now.

I was talking to a friend here in the philippines this afternoon who has two young adult children who are both working full time jobs. He is worried that they will NEVER be able to have a home of their own or even ever an apartment. They both work for Call centers and their jobs USED to based in the USA. They are happy to have a job but they are only earning 13,000 pesos a month. That is about $300 !!!

The same exact job in the states is paying over $400 a week! The of living is less in the Philippines BUT things are NOT so cheap that you could have a home of your own. $300 a month is NOT very much money NO MATTER where in the world you live. The cost of gasoline is MORE here, about $4.00 a gallon. Going out to eat at McDonalds appears to cost less BUT the serving sizes are less so in the long run you pay the same. The wages for a McDonalds employee is about $7 a day so the employees can not even afford to eat at McDonalds!

The employers are making MILLIONS off of the cheap labor. The jobs that used to be in the states are NOW here but the BOSS MAN is making even MORE PROFIT. The employers do not have the misc. taxes to pay like they would in the states. The wages are obviously several hundred dollars or more LESS than the same job in the states. These employers have NOT reduced the cost of their products or services so they are really raking in the bucks.

The american people have lost their jobs and they will NOT see them return. And the people here who are now doing those same jobs are not much better off. The filipino employees are wise enough to understand they are being taken advantage of but there is nothing they can do. They need a job also, so complaining about the low wages does nothing. There are thousands that will take the job you do not want.

Many areas in the Philippines are incrediable wealthy. You see housing developments that the average american could not afford to live in. I see cars that cost tens of thousands of dollars on the road everyday. They have huge shopping malls that are bursting at the seams with stores in EVERY retail location. Unlike the mall in my home town of Cedar Rapids Iowa. The mall there looks like a GHOST TOWN.

The only people that are winning are the CORPORATIONS that are raking in huge profits while the little guy suffers.

Johnnie Woodard, PhD

Educator

Your article is informative with excellent data, comprehensive, and through in presenting the true situation in our country today.

Most students, when presented with what is happening are refusing to accept that such an economic situation of this magnitude is taking place in our country. Many are just waiting for a hand out.

With no jobs, loosing homes, and other material things, staying positive is difficult for young families trying to make ends meet.

SimpleSolution

TAX THE BANKS!

Cary Hug UK

Hi, linked to your site from Alex Jones. Very sobering article and I concur with all of your common-sense points. I have been watching the situation in the States for the last 2 years. I have a question and would very much appreciate a response; How do you think the situation in the States will impact on the UK? I believe it will be profound but would like to get your opinion.

Regards,

Cary UK

Admin

I think that the U.K. is headed for similar trouble, but of course the focus on the article was the U.S.

Tara Li

Great article, up until the 20th point. “Evil” and “wickedness” and “blessed” are more concepts relating to religion, and not economics or justice. Fact of the matter is, to quote Robert Heinlein – “Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity.” It’s not really evil that’s driven this situation, it’s stupidity.

Curtis

Dear Jack:

Whatever makes you think this failure of our (non)-elected officials will take as much as one or two decades?? With the next wave of mortgage failures we may see “tent-cities” several times the size of the ones in Orange county, CA and Sacramento, CA in our own back yards in 2010.

Chuck S

I graduated from college in the 1980s with a degree in finance and everything that we were warned about has been coming true; devaluation of the dollar, the dumping of the dollar by other nations, federal debt that can never be paid, and so on. What is so reprehensible is that our congress for decades has known what has been happening and yet they would never stop the insane spending and debt levels. The coming collapse is more complicated that what I just mentioned but the Feds play the largest part of it.

~~~ Chuck S
Alexandria, Virginia

Richard

When the voters return incumbents to office 94% of the time that are doing a bad job, then you get bad government. People need to start replacing incumbents with legislators who will do a good job. The voters have no one to blame but themselves for returning war criminal incumbents to office.

Greetings.
Many good points were made in this article, and the last one is the most salient of all.

There are some who still deny the path that is leading to the end of this nation, decrying the ‘far-off’ ‘possibility’, that perhaps in 10 years, or 20, we MIGHT have to face the consequenses…

I realize that this assesment from the author’s standpoint is purely economic, and discounts the geo-political decisions made in the past 60 years or so by the ‘leaders’ in this nation of mine.
Such things as Iran-Contra (‘war on drugs), 9/11 (uh-huh, YOU know the truth, but can’t mention it here!), the ‘war on terror’ (oh, yeah, war on an EMOTION works for most!), and the emnity with which the entire REST of the world regards us, given our actions to date…
Even the author believes that there will be a ‘partial’ recovery. I respectfully DISAGREE. This has been coming for a LONG time.
I don’t know, precisely, when the inevitable collapse actually STARTED, but I am led to believe that the Kissinger/Nixon ‘OPEC’ accords were the lighting of the fuse…
Good luck, and may God be with you.

I agree with all the facts in this article but I don’t agree with the attitude that it is too late to do anything about it. I don’t see Americans as deer in the headlights of an oncomming catastrophe because there is a movement afoot in America to put things right. The author would do us a big favor if he could show us that he is more than just a number cruncher – that is to say outline what has to be done, no matter how radical, to avert an economic black hole, whether possible or not in his mind. There are other times in history when the impossible was accomplished. If the left could get the countries of the world to try to save the planet from the HOAX of manmade global warming why can’t America be mobilized to save the economy when armed with the truth. Or are possible solutions just too daunting a task for an unimaginative, defeatist number cruncher? Granted, we do need to see the tidal wave comming but not to say “Oh woahis me,” but in order to do something about it!

SackClothand Ashes

Great article! I think Americas eyes have been bigger than their wallet for too long, and we are begining to see the results of it.

Jimbo

I like how the chart shows the debt going through the roof about the time Reagan became President. Yeah, raise spending and cut taxes, especially for the rich elites seemed to work out pretty well for us.

chad

“justice forall” illegal immigration is not the cause of the financial breakdown in the united states, in fact it plays no role at all. The $300 billion number is a SMALL portion of all funds used in the united states, and what you are not taking into consideration is the money being spent in the economy by illegals. I in no way support illegal immigration, but the constant argument that if illegal immigration stopped all the problems in the united states would be solved. It is not the case. The illegals work for cheaper rates and even less than minimum wage saving the businesses they work for millions of dollars. The illegals pay rent, electric, buy food, go to movies, buy clothes, and everything else the general population does.

with the US economy being an economy based almost solely on the service industry then it needs all the spending consumers it can find, even illegal. So removing 30-million or so illegals from the country is also removing 30-million spenders. If my calculations are right we can assume each illegal spends $100.00 a week (and with the cost of living I can assume $100.00 a week is really low estimate), if there are 30-million illegals then they are ADDING $1.56 Billion to the economy each year. So while they are adding that $1.56 billion they are also creating more jobs by spending that money on good and services, and by creating more jobs then more people are able to buy houses or turn their new jobs into spending within the service sector. It is a vicious but true fact of the economy.

The main issue with the economy is that it is almost solely an economy made up of the service sector. This last “crash” has shaken many Americans to their core and they have reevaluated how they spend money, this is why savings have increased. The American’s will not easily turn back to the consumer’s they once were. So because American’s have chosen to not spend and live week to week the economy is in danger. But not only does the greedy, money happy, overspending habits of the American’s support the US economy it also supports large exporters such as China.

So if the American’s do not easily turn back to their overspending and debt driven ways not only does the US economy teeter, so does the world economy. America needs to find a new way for its economy because the spending habits of the people have changed and can not support a service industry focused economy. I do not think that change will happen fast enough.

reaganomics

this is fixable, we need to put america back to work. take it from reagan’s playbook, print a trillion dollars and put all in defense spending. u can’t outsource an f18 super hornet to china,and building those things pays alot better than hanging solar panels and cutting grass (green jobs).reagan was one smart sob

SLang

This is nothing that cannot be resolved by a) merging the 50 separate states into eight regional superstates run far more efficiently for taxpayers and b) raising income taxes back to the level of the Eisenhower era, the time when the great American middle class was formed. Why do we need 50 separate tax codes, governors, state legislators, etc…it’s ridiculous and far too inefficient economically. Europe and Asia have figured this out and are benefitting. Also, the current income tax laws favor the extremely rich at the expense of the middle class… that should change.

Joe Smith

This article fails to show what Americans are doing to avoid this from happening. Many Americans are moving to other countries. Check those statistics.

The bigclownhunter

Sure we can fix it..if we give up all federal payouts ie social security, medicare, medicade slash 80% of federal jobs and pensions (including all past and present politicians) ,do away with most federal agencies, resend all unfunded mandates to the states, stop educating and medicating illegal aliens and poor people END ALL FOREIGN AID and pull out of all military bases around the world including Iraq and Afghanistan.. maybe we could recover. Otherwise, life is about to get hard. I just hope some of the clowns in government and banking who caused this mess wanders into the tent city that I’m livin in!

ferric oxide

This should be a New York Times headline, but it won’t be.

AmericanMike

I would like to see Dodd, Franks, Wall Street, The Bank CEO’s, and the Short Traders in PRISON.

Robert Robinson

How long has Ron Paul been warning us of this BIG PROBLEM.Time To file the PETITION OF REDRESS TO OUR GOVT.IMMEDIATLY!STOP the TRAITORS in office,they are still destroying our COUNTRY as we read this Article.Like its some kinda game to them
Start drilling our own oil.Build Nuclear power plants,Build oil refineries,All made with American steel&products,with AMERICAN labor.Impose strict tariffs on imported goods.End the Mexican Invasion,send every last one packing.Thats the way we are going to put this Country back.Thats the only way.End the tree hugging PC BULLShiss Too.That costs us billions too.Get our proud soldiers back home to protect us all!
Just remember Folks that our wonderful Politicians have created 99.9% of this!

Sundance

I liked what you had to say TimeTravellor and agree with most of it except your argument is very flawed when you lay all the blame on the current Presidents cabinet. You seem to completely be in a state of denial of George W “Dumb ass” Bush, Cheney, and Rowe.

Please remember that the chairman of the fed was appointed by “W” and the Treasury Sec is a hold over from Bush, and if you look at the little Chart the main deficit spending was ballooned the most during Republican administrations. Now People want to lay all the latest debt on Obama but the pain truth is that over 50% of his debt is left overs from George “W” the idiot and his shady accounting practices, and his little war mongering which until Obama was never factored into the debt.

You know George “W” the man who undid everything when he took office. The US had started running a surplus and was actually starting to pay down the deficit, but little George was unhappy with his allowance so he wrote rubber check after rubber check ?

Now, I hate Obama’s spending just as much as everyone but the one thing I hate are individuals who write from a state of denial in regards to shared responsibility of past administrations. Especially the most recent past idiot who spent 8 years being totally clueless!

The prescription drug bill added $8 trillion ($25,000 per citizen) to our unfunded liabilities. They didn’t calculate the long term cost of the legislation until after it passed.

How much will the health care reform bill add to our $60 trillion of unfunded liabilities? Won’t that be nice to know BEFORE they pass the bill.

The official debt is “only” $12 trillion. But this number doesn’t include the Social Security and Medicare liabilities, because the government doesn’t believe the commitments made to our retirees in the form of Social Security and Medicare benefits are liabilities. What do you think?

maybe i missed it but what about all the commercial properties? aren’t they even more highly leveraged than homes? and with businesses closing more empty commercial property harder to pay back loans and since many have multiple shopping centers/high rises the bigger a mess it will all be. any way to find out how “underwater” and behind commercial paper is?? and do they have the adjustable loans or balloons ??? i can’t imagine the climate is any more hospitable for them to get refinanced especially when they don’t have as many tenants…

Mikey

Don’t bother with gold. You can’t eat it, you can’t plant it and you can’t power your freezer with it. Having a little may be prudent (in case things don’t get too bad), but don’t forget to have plenty of staples and room for a garden 😉

Ban1944

Just don’t gripe. Do something about it. What has been done can be undone.

Old Pif

I joint those who evaluated this article highly. One thing I would disagree with:

… the truth is that most Americans simply have no idea what is happening to the U.S. economy …
The problem is debt.

In this country only newborns are unaware of the national debt. The problem is that they hardly can do anything about it. The concentration of economic power has reached singularity if you wish to continue with physical analogy. Economy and politics is controlled by the few and all the others can only follow.

If the proof of that is required, one thing to check is the consequences of this publication. I bet my salary against the dead cat that there will be none.

Mary Van

In less than a year,I learned from talk radio,one tv program and alot of time on the internet researching things I had heard and read;and it was very scary stuff.But I am so thankful to all who have tried to enlighten us.It is time that ” We The People ” take a firm stand and take our Republic back.Even if it is on the brink of collapse,we can at least do our best to save it.And with the help of God our Father we can.Even people like me who are 65 and not in the best of health.God bless our united States!

Soli

All though i do agree fully with what has been said that greed and over sea exports and the fallout of the housing market have all helped us get into the world of chaos we find ourselves quickly approaching.. many people do not believe this to be the case… People has a whole do not change unless they need to… and they will continue not to until its ethier clear in their face or its too late to… What i do have to say is the bottom hasn’t fallen out yet… but it will… and it has to before we learn as a nation we have to fix these problems and not let them be overshadowed by other things… but i do believe that we will fix these problems… When its staring this nation down in the face and its not other chooses left but to change…

Pray4Peace

A way to save $Billions and get us back on track is to reform our criminal justice and incarceration systems.

Schools are accountable for student outcomes. Why are prisons not accountable for inmate outcomes? Instead, the prisons and related industries get more business and more expensive employees when ex-offenders re-offend creating more crime and more victims.

Laura Sullivan’s recent NPR series exposed the bail bond systems for preying on the poor and for the millions and millions of dollars they cost ordinary tax payers who have never been near a prison.

For-profit prisons are immoral and make their money by keeping as many inmates in prison as possible rather than by helping them reform. Government prisons have little transparency and for-profit prisons can hide even more abuses.

Continually building more prisons and sending people to for-profit prisons is not sustainable and is bankrupting states like California. We need real criminal justice reforms.

John the Messenger

Isaiah 45:7

7 I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.

‘Is The U.S. Economy Being Tanked By Mistake or By Intent?’- by Bill Sardi/Lewrockell.com

For decades, our leaders in Washington pushed us towards “a global economy” and told us it would be so good for us. But there is a flip side. Now workers in the U.S. must compete with workers all over the world, and our greedy corporations are free to pursue the cheapest labor available anywhere on the globe. Millions of jobs have already been shipped out of the United States, and Princeton University economist Alan S. Blinder estimates that 22% to 29% of all current U.S. jobs will be offshorable within two decades. The days when blue collar workers could live the American Dream are gone and they are not going to come back.

jimbo

Hey Mikey,

Don’t bother with dollars. You can’t eat them, you can’t plant them and you can’t power your freezer with them. Might be able to use dollars as fuel for cooking or heat as the Germans did with the Mark during the Wiemar days. Having a little may be prudent (in case things don’t get too bad), but don’t forget to have plenty of staples and room for a garden. Gold is money, plain and simple.

Expat

ban1944 exhorts us to stop simply griping and DO SOMETHING!
Ok, what would you have us do? The readers of blogs like this are a tiny minority. We represent no corporate structure, no large voter base, no influential interest group. We are politically powerless. We have no means of attaining power in the existing political structure.

Most Americans want to go back to the status quo and fundamentally trust in our government to get us there. (To wit, 58% of us want to torture the Underwear Bomber despite our president and Congress being “socialists”) People simply want their Big Macs, big screens, and big armies so they can grow fat and stupid watching innocent civilians being blown up in faraway lands. You can’t overturn that kind of inertia with a call to arms.

Our political system and nation needs to worsen to a point where it either collapses internally or it creates a violent revolution. The outcome is unlikely to be better at first. I would guess there is a seventy-five percent chance of a right-wing, corporate dictatorship in America within the next twenty years (we are pretty close to that political system, called fascism, right now). There is no risk of any kind of left-wing government; Americans are not socialists at heart; they are far too ignorant and naive to socialists.

But, hey, DO SOMETHING! At least you got me to write this dark, despairing comment. That’s a start.

gary

A couple of solutions come to mind, first, bring back tarrifs on goods from china and india, that was done in past centurys when free trade in those days destroyed local economies.
Second, cut back really big on military spending or else end up like the soviet union’s collapse.
Third, really push the development of advanced nantoech and biotech to speed along what is allready developing ( a complete control of all medical problems including aging and cancer etc, see web sites like http://www.mprize.org and http://www.maxlife.org and http://www.longevitymeme.org and http://www.kurzweilai.net). After all, the countries that develop advanced nano/biotech will be licensing this tech to everybody else and if you thought that the personal computer revolution changed everything, you have not seen what exponential growth rates of tech can do….besides, the way the economy is heading, it’s best if you can get made young again as it will take a long time to get out of this mess and if you are 50 or more, it gets really hard competing against all those younger people, trust me, I read about these types of horor stories about older electrical engineers trying to get/keep a job way back in 1974 (before apple and microsoft) when they hit the magic age of 45….I used to dream of how future tech could reverse the aging process, now, in part thanks to the development of computers and a world used to computers and complicated tech, we can now use that tech to reverse engineer biology and by using developing nanotech, we can soon be able to reverse aging too!

Good article with ample statistical backing. One point…shipping jobs overseas does not make a company “greedy” it saves them money and allows them to be competitive. Unions, corporate taxes,government mandates and over-regulation have all played major roles in forcing companies to export jobs. “Greedy” companies would gladly hire workers here and manufacture in the U.S if it were more affordable. With the rising Federal debt and an INCREASE in Federal taxes and fees on the horizon the chances of that happening in the near future are zero to none.

Michael

One problem missed in this article; the American people. As we are no longer a melting pot, lets break it down into groups.
Amnesty for those who entered this country illegally. The tsunami of the impoverished across our borders and social costs incurred with the passage of amnesty.
People still going through life like nothing is happening. Ignoranance is bliss.
Reparations for past injustices.
When money for entitlements dry up. What then? Increase taxes and fees, forcing more businesses into bankruptcy and higher unemployment. On and on it goes, round and round.
There is no escape from what is coming. It will get real bad when desperation, hunger and fear becomes a reality. Martial Law, confiscation and a suspension of the Constitution will be soon to follow.
There is no changing the power structure in DC. It’s beyond corrupt.
We can layout a whole hosts of ways to turn it around. But the train of pain will still be rolling down the tracks.

DINO

It’s no coincidence that this all falls on the heels of the “conservative revolution” that started around 30 years ago.

I knew this would happen back then and am vindicated. Now, hopefully, I’ll get to watch as the country implodes and the children and grandchildren of all those people who voted republican over the years get to SUFFER through a diminished, ugly future.

When the people finally figure out that this is the fault of conservatives and liberal populism emerges, we’ll get to see them burning reagan in effigy and putting conservatives in work camps.

A happy ending for all!

VegasRage

@cyndee The commercial loans are the Alt-A and Option Arm loans, they are in the recast chart and those are about to start going kaboom.

@Mikey No you can’t eat gold or silver but Bernanke will keep printing like like a fool, there may be a day that dollar buys next to nothing and those metals may be the best way to buy food. 10 to 15% in physical metals is not unwise for the long term.

The article is fairly depressing stuff, but the MSM barely talk about this stuff, few politicians talk about this stuff, if we don’t acknowledge the real issues then how can we fix them? I’m glad to see hard news like this, it gives me hope someone might take notice and actually do something.

What everyone needs to realize is that this is a fight for the survival of America. It’s not a fight between rich and poor, black and white, left and right, conservative or liberal. The fight is between the people and those in power. It’s the same fight that has been waged for personal freedom since the beginning of time.

The political class is at the center of all of it. Funded by special interest, promoted by the media, they have brought us to where we are today. Not to say we each haven’t played our part.

@dino…
you, you have nailed it on the head. goes to show voting republican is dangerous. the republican mentality goes to show that they think things will always be the same and why should things change. that is a conservative republican for ya. well things change and we as a people have to change with them or suffer. well i am democratic and very liberal. you have to change or die basically.

John

It is never too late, but, our situation is grim. The only way to reverse the situation now, without violence, is to, 1] Eliminate the income tax, 2) Abolish the Federal reserve board, 3)abolish most of the Federal government, 4)reafirm the original constitution, eliminating everything after the tenth amendment,and adding an eleventh, term limits.

Come to think of it, it may be too late! Viva la Revolucion!

BEN ROBERTS

Don’t bother with PAPER MONEY. You can’t eat it, you can’t plant it and you can’t power your freezer with it. Having a little may be prudent (in case things don’t get too bad), but don’t forget to have plenty of staples and room for a garden

GOLD AND SILVER HAVE BEEN REAL MONEY FOR FIVE THOUSAND YEARS. THEY ARE NOW. THEY ALWAYS WILL BE. GOT GOLD ???

Duncan

Stop deluding yourselves, the financial meltdown isn’t a result government corruption or power struggle, it’s due to the American people getting greedy and borrowing way too much money. Wake-up.

Johnny Rotten

You all make out like it’s the “government” or the “greedy corporations” to blame for all this but we’ve only got ourselves to blame. WE were the ones that bought the houses at ever increasing prices, hoping to make a quick buck, WE were the ones that orgied on debt, WE were the ones that demanded ever cheaper products (when did you last buy American made?) and not so long ago, WE were the ones that idolised the corporate CEO’s of these now “greedy corporations” when they were making us good money in the share market. Rather than blaming everyone and everything else, look in the mirror!!!!!!

Style_1

20 problems is only about 3 problem.

Debt, Job, and Home Market.

Here’s how you solve our problem. Take my message to our incompetent political leaders.

1. Look at our government budget. Cut defense and social welfare spending. Use it to pay off the debt and create job.

2. All the lazy American needs to get their butt go to college or do something to retrain themselves to match the current demand.

3. The big bank will need to re-adjust the all the mortgage contract to where American can pay. They have to do it or fall along side all Americans.

4. The most important of all… For all the stupid American to stop buying everything they want, and only buy what they really need. Those American who can do this will not suffer as much as those who can’t.

I keep hearing conservatives say we need to get rid of “Social Security” and go back to when families took care of family members. These people have to be “out of touch with reality” because the family unit has been broken for years in this country and continues to break down. Disabled, elderly people, in general, have no family members willing to help them. Children and grandchildren often have no time for their older parents and grandparents and often feel that older and disabled folk are in the way and only contact them when they themselves need money or wish to check on their possible inheritance from older members of their family. Many young people think nothing of “stealing” from thier parents and elderly grandparents if they think they can get away with it. Many families with children have only one adult or parent to support and nurture the children and many women, right here in Missoula, Montana, are supporting thier “boy friends” and fewer and fewer “couples” are getting “married”. A large number of family units are in deep financial trouble as the good paying jobs keep disappearing and the materialistic young people feel they must buy the latest new toy or electronic gadget on the market. Even these college graduates often leave college with huge debts they incurred in the form of student loans and are often in serious financial trouble. Where is the “family” support and help for the elderly and disabled coming from??? Many young adults often try to make older folks feel they have outlived thier welcome no matter how hard they worked when they were young to help build the nation these young people feel belongs only to them.

Jon McItntyre

Hmm, thirty years of supply side economics. “Take care of the supply side and the demand side will take care of itself”. Strange, how is it we ended up with far too much supply and not enough demand? Wait, doesn’t this question answer itself? I thought so…

Mike

The conservative revolution produced 25 years of unprecedented prosperity in America. Protectionism was instituted by Reagan in 1982. 2 decades of a booming economy until….. globalization started around 1997-1998. A decade of that is the real cause of this mess. $700 billion in annual trade deficits, $300 bl of it with China each and every year. Raising guest worker visa caps in late 1998 from 65,000 per year to 115,000 per year and to 195,000 per year again in April 2000 – both of which BILL CLINTON signed into law. USA continues to import 1 million foregn SKILLED workers to the USA every year to take jobs Americans need. 3-7 million skilled workers in the USA sending money home every month in the form of remittances in the billions. $45 billion a year in remittances to India, $75 billion to Mexico – every single year. Think that might have something to do with it. Not protecting U.S. workers under Title 8, Section 1182 AS REQUIRED BY LAW. Not deporting all foreign guest workers in time of recession, as Japan is now doing. It’s impossible to have a foreign workforce that sends their money home and at the same time have a functioning economy. Undo Clinton’s globalization mess that he started in 1997 and you’ll see the U.S. economy recover REAL quick.

Esol Esek

The reason this country will go down in flames is as much that the right-wing and its armies of brainwashed teabaggers are only willing to spend money on military adventures, which do ZERO to develop our country for the future and basically are throwing billions out a helicopter door. The reason this country is toast is that Congress will not fund alt-energy or infrastructure projects, or health care, or restoring education, all of which would greatly benefit our country. The USA could publicly commit to reduce our consumption of oil and the price would collapse in a week, but the vested right-wing interests – the oil, drug, and arms manufacturers, are going to drive this country straight into the dirt. Also, in states like CA, wealthy people are paying very little in property taxes, as are corporations. Until we reign in the corporations, the whole world is run by thieves. It’s gonna take a mob with torches visiting whatever CEO offices they can find that aren’t offshore to change anything, and then they’ll just leave. The USA could save itself, but considering the complexity and success of the brainwashing, it isn’t going to happen easily if at all. Eventually, though, the anger of the public will reach a high enough fever pitch that the elites will have to start battling each other behind closed doors to avoid riots in the streets. Truthfully, the worse things get, the closer we get to a dictatorship, which, while bad for global business, could surprise the power structure, although they will try to take out any strong leader.

grace

I’d have to disagree with Fred Gorsline @ 1:53pm to some extent. The majority of corporations that offshore their production are large and usually publicly traded ie: they have stockholders. Stockholders have expectations of ever increasing profits, therefore offshoring to reduce labor costs is a necessity.
Yes taxes,unions and regulations have played a part but it’s not the entire story.
And furthermore regulations are good to a large extent. Remember the contaminated Pet Foods, contaminated drywall for housing construction, and god only knows what else they do. They do not have identical regulations to North America.
I personally am a believer of Hubbard’s peak oil theory, in which case globalization will not succeed in the end. Oil prices will escalate back to previous highs and then some.
Shipping costs will no longer be as attractive. And jobs will need to come back.
We need stop buying crap Made In China and that includes food. I do this but it is becoming increasingly difficult.

If everything possible is offshored and we are left with,a large service based economy and bloated public sector, how long would the country continue to function?
A nation of McDonald’s and Wal-Mart workers to support it all? I can’t visualize that as being sustainable. And that goes for both sides of the border as we have similar problems here although on a much smaller scale.
Your neighbour from Canada.

Jon KIng

fred gorsline….you could not be more wrong. So when companies go to countries where the pay is pennies per hour how exactly would you suggest the US worker competes with that??

Erich

This has nothing to do with one party or the other. They are two wings of the same bird. There are differneces on the surface, but in the end when you peel away the layers, they are both headed in the same direction and have the same goals, and have layed the ground work for the next adminastration to achieve there goals of a New World Order. The only way to get there is to bring America to its knees and to the same level playing field as everyone else. This whole economic collapse is intentional and not by accident. All they want to do is distract you, and cause division amongst the peolple. WAKE UP!!! Time is short before things turn real ugly. I give it a max of two years, but personally think the inplosion will happen even sooner than that. The writing is on the wall, & they are all corrupt, and in bed internationally with other corrupt individuals and governments. Rep/Dem it does not matter. Now is the time to think clearly and prepare your self and possibly family for what is to come.

TW

I work in the credit/finance world- front line…no, people in general, and those I work with do not get it. They are as blind as anyone. I sound like I am prosyletizing when I implore folks to prepare. Guess the next night out or new pair of shoes or handbag, or the next round of Idol are more important.

Those who get it, shake the dust from your sandals and move on. Do what you know in your heart you need to do. Prepare to survive. All of us will be hit differently, get ready for the worst and pray to God it isn’t harsh for you and yours.

BRUCE

I think what’s developing is much more complex than is presented here. By that I mean there will be many countervailing forces at work. I think, for example, that both deflation and inflation will occur but in different markets (e.g., material costs will go up and labor cost will go down; tax rates will increase but official incomes will drop (more grey market activity and barter)). One wild card will be how long most people continue to think that the government can help. Government interference in the economy – regardless of whether you call it regulation or subzidation or stimulation – IS the source of all the imbalances listed here. Government is however the reflection of mass beliefs and far too many people feel entitled and have cynically and selfishly demanded or allowed a “Nanny” state to do whatever it wants in exchange for their little piece of largess. But not every one thinks that way and that is your salvation. You form your own reality and you will not experience personally what you have not sowed.

WorryFree

Conservative values = balanced budgets. I’m too young to remember any “conservative revolution” 30 years ago, but I do know that ~40 years ago Nixon took the US off the gold standard, leaving the dollar to begin its decent–NOT a conservative move. Before that and since then, Democratic policies instituted the biggest drains on our economy–welfare & social security, making debt no big deal as people no longer had to be responsible for their own financial problems. It’s Democratic policies that gave FM and FM too much power and no responsibility for tax payer dollars. The blame for the current state of the economy lies in the hands of Republicans AND Democrats–and every American citizen who has been irresponsible with their money. It is true conservatism that got Alaska out of debt, that makes Texas one of the most fiscally sound states in the US, etc. Just as being conservative with our personal finances will save our necks, being conservative with taxpayer dollars–cutting budgets, eliminating waste, COULD save our economy. Unfortunately, senators are too busy looking forward to their cushy life-long incomes to care what happens to the rest of us and do anything about it. Those life-time salaries should be the 1st thing to go, imo.

LA Tax Slave

For those in the big cities, be ready to get out in a moments notice the day the dollar becomes toilet paper
The cities will burst into flames once the rotten scum stop getting their government checks
And there isn’t a police force or army that will stop them,
They will run away to protect the rich and powerful and leave the middle class to die
I’m hoping the scum will consume each other,
However they have the guns and the corrupt politicians and activists on their side
Kalifornia has 5 absolute useless Stooges for Congress and Senate leadership and they will let this state go up in flames
The coming riots and unrest will make the riots of 92 look like a church picnic

Maybe I am paranoid, but I am gathering a library of books on subjects like growing food and how to weld to prepare for the time that we will all may need to be more self sufficient. while I am not convinced that the economy is in a unrecoverable death spiral, I do think that the current way of life in the US is not sustainable, and people who are prepared to live more self sufficiently will have an easier time of it.

Captain Crunch

Mary,

I agree with you! I am a “child of the 60’s” (so my parents are your age) – my first memory is being in a stroller during a civil rights march. I would love to have the freedom to protest – the truth is that civil disobedience is getting very expensive, and dangerous. It is not politically correct to take to the streets anymore (at least in my gen) I get the feeling that the police (force) is looking to fine and prosecute for anything – even if it is “just to get money” for cities and counties (tough on bogus crime is the new economy). I just got pulled over and ticketed for having a balloon in my car! I offered to pop it, and my daughter sobbed. They gave me a ticket anyways. Crazy. I live in Cali – metro area. I’ve been to protests in SF and they felt tired and pointless. We need a new kind of movement. I think things need to get just a little bit worst to wake people up.

Congress Works For Us

Hey Dino … And I thought it was we conservatives that were the hate-mongers…

John

Mikey…that is how I feel about gold…I have been saying for years if things get as bad as I think they will, gold will be of no value!

1st- Guns

2nd – Ammo

3rd – Water

4th – Food

5th – Seeds

6th – Miscellaneous items…

pete smith

Dino:

You are confused. The Republicans have been supporting the democrats for generations (ever since roosevelt started social security). 99% of all violent criminals in jail are (YOU GUESSED IT) democrats. California and Michigan are welfare STATES. Obama has spent more money than all the other administrations combined. These are facts, but you can only argue with feelings and beliefs. We are sick and tired of supporting your lazy butts. We shall see who sinks, you moron. We will take our money and leave the country.

The one thing that will stop all of those statistics in the original article is to bring in tariffs on some articles and start making them in the States again.
Less imports
More Jobs
More Taxes paid
The downside is that some prices will go up.

And tell China to start letting their currency float freely or we will put tarrifs on more goods.

Call their bluff – sure they have lots of dollars invested, but they also have millions relying on exports to the USA !

The government, unions, big business and banks have unwillingly conspired to let the cost of goods, food and clothes drop so that people can spend more of their income on housing.

European

So, this means I can buy the State of Minnesota with a couple of thousand Euro’s in a couple of years? All because of stupid and greedy Congressmen, and Senators, who have been bribed by the multi-nationals?

Somehow, I don’t think the fatcats are going to pay for their crimes… People are stupid.

Leo O. Zakharoff

Our wonderful country is heading for bankrupsty when the tax revenues exceed the interest payments on our debts, the US will have no other choice but to file for chapter 11 or 7…
There is a way to save our Republic, get rid of the Gestapo IRS and put in its place a consumption tax called FAIRTAX. This one move will save our Republic!!
See http://www.fairtax.com
I love this country and it pains me to see what is happening…too much debt!

silk

Most of these 20 reasons do not imply the economy won’t recover. Most of them just state that things really suck right now. Also, you have to compare to the rest of the world as well for relative value of the dollar and economy. Where are you going to put your money, the renminbi? Please.

Missy

Great comments.

The biggest problem is the new world order. We all have great ideas of getting the economy going and so forth, such as electic cars, and different ways we can cut costs, but BOTTOM LINE, it always comes down to the people in control making the decisions which is NOT OUR GVT.

The point being, is The People IN control WANT to tank the economy. Get them exposed, and we can solve the problem. Alex Jones does a great job of showing the average person who they are.

For good news, more people are waking up. The average citizen is using their voices, and SCREAMING now, instead of just taking the rape.

Great Article!

Be better than that

Want to save America …. use less government. That equates to lower taxes and a better economy. That’s how we got prosperous. Now we have social security, medicare, drug prescriptions, outrageous public pensions, huge public employee unions, corrupt politicians, waste, waste and more waste. For a few bribes and stipends anyone can pull the BIG Government levers to stack the deck in their favor (IE Wall Street). China is a more FREE Market than America… that’s why it is growing.

You want all this government then accept the doom. You are the problem that caused it.

And yes….. people can use much less government. Strengthen your family, be more rugged, responsible and independent. Step up and do it yourself. Simply put … be better than that.

Rant over…. (save your stupid comments …I won’t read them)

Ban1931

Ban1944,
The devaluation of the dollar is a huge tax on already angry people. The first revolution was fought over taxes and so will this one (moron).

Darcy

Hey, how’s it going eh!

I’m a Canadian long haul truck driver that regularly crosses the border (what a pain)to bring various commodities (mostly fuels and foods)into the USA. Sometimes I run short of US currency on my trips, it happens. One time, I pulled into a “dunking” coffee shop and tried to buy a coffee with my Canadian dollars; I couldn’t. I was told that my money was no good!

Hey friends, what are you going to buy from the world when the world says to you “YOUR MONEY IS NO GOOD”?

Cash, gas or ass; nobody rides for free!

wk

While most of the 20 reasons are very valid in detail, I’ll go ahead and deliver these additional views.

We have 3 major broken syatems in this country that have been and will continue to hamper any and every effort to address these hardships:

– Political system – the filibuster has been co-opted by the political parties to install filter politics in every major initiative in the USA. There is no civility in the Senate now, the Senate has become the critical path to anything getting through Congress. The filibuster was not written into the Constitution, nor should it have been. This was a late 18th century chamber rule that morphed into the biggest obstruction in more effective political leadership in the nation today. This minority empowering tool is sure to contimue to tamp down any kind of effective throughput from the Senate, and without the Senate nothing gets through Congress.

Along these lines, the basic lack of common civility and respect among Americans is appalling in the general sense. All needs to do is look at any media or internet blogs to reveal anger at unhealthy levels. How this chnages or reverses I don’t know, but that is up to every American to decide whether the United States continues to live up to its name. We have not been united in the real sense since the fall of the Soviet Union in my opinion, save for the brief time after 09/11.

Both the Democrats and Republicans have faults too numerous to detail, Americans continuing to fight and advocate for self-righteousness for one of the political parties against the other only extends the problems. The founding fathers knew the potential problems with political parties (why there is no reference to political parties in the Constitution), I am always amazed at the wisdom of this group of men going on 250 years ago.

– Information system – I don’t know about all of you, but I have learned that media outlets can no longer be trusted, perhaps they never should have been. Related to the hard partisan issues, major inroads of ideology into typical daily reporting has provided two alternate realities among Americans, one liberal and one conservative. No one talks to each other on political issues any more, they talk at and past each other. Institutions like Walter Cronkite, Huntley and Brinkley and others are gone forever in the era of tabloid reporting and instant gratification and titillation on new stories (e.g. any celebrities you can name including Tiger Woods, Charlie Sheen etc that fall into hard times captivate many Americans). Supposedly, the media keeps feeding what they believe will sell their product or service, many times they seem to judge correctly as to the shallow nature on how Americans view and react to news stories.

We have many experts that know how to corrupt and use the broken information system to serve their ends, to frame an agenda driven perception among Americans that many times works. Freedom of the press is fine in principle, but we have not really had a free press in the classical sense in a very long time.

– Financial systems – I could write a book on this and only repeat what many of us already know. Americans are not used to having to sacrifice for things in many cases, and there are a lot more bad people in the country that attempt to defraud others than I wish were there.

All the same, I am amazed we have not seen political violence yet on any major scale, but if the slide to economic depression continues and the top 1% of the rich continue to take resources from every one else, things will need to change I’m afraid. Much of what I wrote requires introspection from many people, I doubt anything will change truly until it is too late and violence and financial hardship escalate.

Even Worse

#1 on the list is…Americans are in the poorest health of any population in the developed world. We are a fat, lazy, obsese nation, getting older and less healthy every year. When the flabby Baby Boomers all start needing kidneys, metal knees, insulin, and nursing homes by the score, AND expecting their kids to pay for it and their Social Security to boot, the costs will be bigger than any war our nation has fought.

stevesmitty79

I wonder if most of you know that the economy of Heaven trumps that of earth? On earth, it’s about buying and selling, hence the mark. In the Kingdom, it’s about giving and receiving; about storing treasures in Heaven that we can call upon in great abundance in times of great need. God doesn’t run out of provision, though the earth certainly will.

So, what about it? Where’s your head at? Are you looking out only for yourself, buying and selling, or are you preparing for yourself and others? If you’re concern is more for others, then God will look after you and who better to have your back.

This is not the time to be tight-fisted but generous. Have faith (trust and confidence) in God. He is not a liar. He has NOT fallen off the throne in Heaven. He is our salvation, our deliverance, our protection and provision.

Jesus wondered if when He returned if He would find faith in the world.

I wonder too.

Big J

Man, this was the best article I’ve read in a long time. I agreed with about 98% of it. The only thing he left out was how the Fed “injected” $1 Billion into the housing market about a year ago….

Michael

@Mike

Another thing about BILL CLINTON, as you put it. Look at the debt chart. See that part where it starts to curve and go flat, then shoot back up again? That period was Bill’s time in office – where we started cutting back our national debt and had a balanced budget. See where shoots back up again after 2000?

Funny that.

We cannot blame any president for this – not even George W. with his insane spending. No, this falls far more on the shoulders of Congress and the American people themselves.

David

Rotten scum? Government checks? Are you KIDDING me? Please take your racist, bigoted bull somewhere else, LATaxSlave. I would not be as woried about grandma on Social Security as I would be about the working folks who are going to, for the first time, understand that the “system” is not designed to meet their needs at all, but rather to exploit them and steal their money at every turn in order to give it to the Fat Cats on Wall Street. Them’s gonna be some pissed off mothers.

sustained

to those who think I who own a wheat field, or a can of food would even consider trading for a pot of gold is ignorant and not in touch with how bad it could get. you will not be able to buy from grocers and stores they will not have any products to buy.
to those who think economy is fixable, the powers that be will not allow it, to make a one world government you must get rid of capitalism. and then bring in socialism. Gold can be confiscated, as was done by Roosevelt, it can be outlawed as history has proven.
This country has tried for many many decades to bring the standard of living of other countries up to the level enjoyed by Americans, it has proven impossible due to gangs, dictatorships, and greed in those countries, so the only alternative is to bring ours down to their level. There is no other way for socialism and the New world order. So unless you are willing to phyically stop them with revolution,and go back to isolationism, I suggest you
prepare for a long long hold out.

sustained

20 problems is only about 3 problem.

Debt, Job, and Home Market.

Here’s how you solve our problem. Take my message to our incompetent political leaders.

1. Look at our government budget. Cut defense and social welfare spending. Use it to pay off the debt and create job.

2. All the lazy American needs to get their butt go to college or do something to retrain themselves to match the current demand.

3. The big bank will need to re-adjust the all the mortgage contract to where American can pay. They have to do it or fall along side all Americans.

4. The most important of all… For all the stupid American to stop buying everything they want, and only buy what they really need. Those American who can do this will not suffer as much as those who can’t.

Wow your recommendation are a little contradictory.
1 Stop social programs? how? Stop affording the military? when we are at our weakest, is suicide. disbanding soldiers?
Seems to me that soldiers on the social programs line will defeat your purpose of less social programs, and also all the people going back to school? who will feed them other then social programs to go to school, for 4 years or more?
or do you plan to make education free,
as to the mortgage companies why would they readjust when then can have your property if you don’t pay. and still get the money from bailouts? then tear down your homes and sell them to big farm corp. you expect them to not make money why be in business then? and as to the people buying what they need and not what they want, hmmm how is that gonna creat jobs?
as I said a little condradictory to say the least a little more thought into the problems is required.

sustained

to those who are in the midst of the blame game! kinda reminds me of children, we the people need to take the responsibility.you know like grown ups.

sustained

even worse,
So true, how do you explain the richest, with all the medical, vaccines, foods, etc. have the worst health?
could it be the richest lifestyles that cause it? Just as it causes lazy, depressed, cows waiting for slavery. funny perhaps man was not made to live in such conditions and the future fall will increase the health of America,

Sheeple

I have to tell you. I love all your comments. You are all very much awake. this is why I have been buying silver over the past 2 years and have a decent size food storage in my house.

Old Pete

2012 is coming or perhaps is already here.
What does it mean?
Many speculate the possibilities that are coming which is normal.

One thing for sure is that the people are going to suffer for a time and then those control freaks that run wall street, the biggest casino around, will find them selves out to lunch as good sense and harmony return and people stop worshiping the material things and begin to discover again the spiritual meaning on life.

Modern Religion has little to do with the spiritual.
Modern religion is the cause of a great deal of the insanity that prevails today on the planet.
Perhaps most beliefs that are rooted in religion are to blame to some extent.

A few thoughts from out there to ponder.

Regina

The first and number 1 reason the economy is going down a black hole probably not be what you expect. When loans start adjusting , right now, because rates are so low they may actually adjust down like mine﻿ did. I had a 3 year fixed rate. I got the original loan in 2004. The loan was not subprime it was through Wells Fargo.
Original rate- 3.875 % (Fixed for 3 years 3/2004 to 2/2008)
First adjustment – 5.875% 3/2008(The Feds had just raised rates the first adustment cap was a max of 2% more then my original rate)
2nd Adjustment – 3.875% 3/2009(went back down as the Feds slashed rates because of our recession)
This march will be the 3rd and final adjustment should take the rate down to 2% fixed for the life of the loan. WOWWWWW!!!!! 2% fixed interest rate when I had an adjustable rate mortgage! YEAHHHHH 🙂
When the loans start adjusting, depending on the index, they actually may have a lower interest rate on thier loan like I did. This wave of rate adjustment may be a good thing for the people, like it was for me. These loans that are coming due are 5 and 7 year fixed. They are good loans. They are likely to have rate decreases not increases in our current enviroment.
Let’s celebrate the only silver lining I see on a very big black cloud.
I think our economy is getting worse and jobs are being lost. Until this problam gets better I am scared regardless of the interest rate on my mortgage. Taxes are going to go up because of our deficit spending. Eventually we’ll have inflation. The middle east is going to stop trading their oil is US Dollars as soon as we leave them unoccupied. I pray for our country, there are so many issues….

Hank

I like some of the ideas relating to how we can take back our financial freedom and get this country back on track. The problem is that we never got rid of the monarchy, they just rule from the shadows. Self-interest is not limited to the masses, the leaders have it too, and they can do something about it. What they have done is created so many laws that should we try to change anything, we will run into one or another law that will keep us from being successful. Tariffs are supposed to pay for governement, not income taxes. NAFTA says that if the country does something to impede a corporations right to make the most money it can make, the company can sue for damages. We are screwed, blued, and chewed. It is what they want it to be and by the time any change comes it will have to be drastic (ie. god, aliens, violence, anarchy) Not a fun buncha choices for the majority.

Spiran

You are forgetting commercial real estate resetting

John

We need term limits for everyone in Washington. The same old farts have bilked us for years and years to their/coprorate advantages. 2-terms and your out of Washington!

sharonsj

It’s obvious that we are now a Banana Republic, with the super-rich owning and controlling everything, while the peasants toil like hamsters in a wheel. I disagree about the struggle–it is absolutely between the rich and the poor.

The middle class is disappearing because we’ve been squeezed for the last 30 years by policies and laws that take our money while sending our jobs overseas. These outsourced jobs are not likely to return. There will be no recovery for Main Street.

And for all the dissing you give socialism, when things fall apart, it may be the only way we collectively can survive. Saying that Obama and Congress are “socialists” is just more Republican name-calling. It’s yet another way to divide us and distract us from what is really happening–and that is corporate fascism.

Merlin

Exactly why I paid off all creditors, bought gold, food, and guns so I could hang onto the first two. If you are doing anything else than this then you are a fool.

It isn’t only the middle class being hit, just FYI. We had become very successful, due to hard work, just as many of our friends had. Guess what is happening to us? Well…we develop and hold real estate. The banks have now gotten new appraisals on our properties and are calling the loans due, stating that the values have dropped. In the bank’s eyes, this means we have defaulted on the agreements. They know we can’t get a new loan to pay them, and even though we were paying our loans on time, they are still coming after us. Someone knocked on our door tonight delivering lawsuit paperwork. Because of this, they will cause MANY of us to go bankrupt. We have employed 100’s of people over the years, as have our friends. If the commercial side of real estate falls apart, then my friends, we are in REAL serious trouble. You ALL have to remember that people who make money, hire people to help them run their businesses as they grow. Stop beating up on capitalism, because it is NOT the problem. The problem is the GOVERNMENT!!!!!!!!!!!

One more point I would like to make, that is important.

When someone has a private sector job, they are paying taxes into OUR tax/bank account.
When the govt hires someone to work in the public sector, then we pay that person out of our tax/bank account.

Let’s assume that both the private and the public employee makes $50,000/year.

The private person pays you and me about 30% or $15,000 into our tax/bank account.

The public person making $50,000/yr gives us back 30% in taxes, which is the same $15,000, BUT that means that we are still paying out $35,000 from our tax/bank account.

So, not only are we losing the $35,000 but we are also losing the $15,000 we would have gained from the private person that is now doing a govt job. Do the math. Big govt costs us all dearly!!!

Eric

Socialism is the problem that got us into this mess. Our government should be small and limited. We should have a very modest tax rate primarily to fund the military. Welfare programs should be done at the state level if they choose to do them.

Nevertheless, I know capitalism will be blamed for the collapse even though we haven’t been capitalist since before the creation of the Federal Reserve. We all just need to come to the reality that we will be a poorer country. People will blame the rich even though it’s not the rich people’s fault. I want to position myself in a place where I can bless and help others when things get bad. We all should be doing the same. We will be able to re-build, but the attitude of socialism that got us into this mess must first be dealt with.

Leslie Wolf Vanette

Printed out this article for my customers to read as we go over how both of us are going to pay our bills. Small business is getting crushed, especially in Florida. Sir/Madam, if I may please have permission to post this article on a blog site at Tallahassee.com, the only local newspaper in the capital city of Florida. Between the federal/state/local governments, 64% of the workforce is government employed, with business paying all the local property taxes. (FL passed double homestead exemption w/Gov. Crist) Your brilliantly simple article needs to be seen in our town, to provide encouragement, yes, to hang on. If we know the truth, we know how to fight against being crushed. Thank you!!

Admin

Yes, please feel free to post this article on that blog. Just please include a direct link back to the original article – that is all we ask.

Thanks for checking out our site and we hope that you will come back again often.

Michael

Nobby

Blue collar jobs have been shifting to low-cost countries for decades, & are continuing to do so. More recently it is also white-collar higher paying jobs which are shifting to low-cost countries. There are millions of IT, accounting, legal & other similar jobs affected. So, what’s left ? Do we all become scientists, millionaire business owners, CEOs ? Hey, don’t bet that these jobs can’t go overseas as well. What’s left ? Who’s left to pay the taxes ? Globalisation is a massive con-job.

alkat

What many of us fail to understand is that the economic failure of the US is planned. Our leaders are controlled by a demonic presence. They are puppets. They are deliberately trying to cause a world wide depression and it’s going to happen.
For some time now, in all facets of the economy, every adjustment has been to drive the US deeper into debt.
Our economy is now propped up and ready for a catastrophic event to cause it to fall like a rock. This horrific event is planned by the people that control both sides of the fence.
The overall goal of a world wide depression is many fold.
First: starvation, pestilence and war will quickly reduce the population to a more manageable level. This will be a horrific time and we are on the very eve of this event.
Secondly: A one world monetary system will then be introduced, where there is no money to change hands and your every purchase can be tracked. A microchip will be embedded into each and every person on the globe if they want to be able to buy and sell. Some call this the mark of the beast.
This is all in biblical prophecy and we are in the end times. Very shortly now we will begin tribulation.
So no amount of adjustment to the present economy can deter the terrible times that are near.
I am not here to preach to or convert anyone, but it is a simple fact that one’s best defense to the coming hard times is a solid spritual relationship with God.

Merlin, you said, “Exactly why I paid off all creditors, bought gold, food, and guns so I could hang onto the first two. If you are doing anything else than this then you are a fool.”

No, the moron and very evil one is you as your name shows. Hanging on Christ, the perfect man, and God, is what must be done to be saved from Hell which you are headed for because of your disobeying God. Guns, murder, will not save you from Hell, or God.

(I don’t know how to tinyurl this address) The link to this site is at the top, and the readers have access to more of the best economic reporting I’ve ever read. Thank you!!

Admin

You are welcome Leslie!

Feel free to use more of our articles the same way in the future. The key is to get this information out there so that more Americans will wake up.

Q4truth

Amen to syevesmitty79 ‘s comment on the 26th. Well said…well said

REW

The BEST way to save America, is: Stop offending God! God LOVES to reward those who Love Him, Honor Him, Worship Him, Respect Him, Adore Him! God gave humanity Laws and Rules of Conduct to Bless humanity! It is sooo simple! DO IT TODAY! Start now! As long as you’re breathing, on this side of the dirt, it’s not too late!

Wake up people too much talk and not enough action. People need to look seriously at what is going on in America and the rest of the world. Countries that are manufacturing stuff for Countries like America, Canada, Europe & ECT. do not make enough to buy the products they make. Soon the Countries America, Canada, Europe will not be able to buy either. Governments like in America are the problem, the greed and control is their goal. The only way to right this is 1) remove the elected who have been their way to long and those who call them selfs Progressive liberals on both sides of the isles of Government. 2) While working toward this goal, those who have said to get in food storage, gold & Silver & guns and ammo to help people and good families is the only way to weather perfect storm and here is hoping it dose not last too long if it can not be turned around.

We need to clean up congress. What if we required all congress people and presidential offices to have degrees in science, arts, history and math?? How about some smart people at the helm? Maybe we should re think how we structure our political offices, pay these people bank for having a higher education and mandate that they have no financial ties to corporations during or after office. What pay scale do we pay them to keep them happy and doing good jobs? Big corporations through our politicians are marching us back into slavery. Write your reps and congress and give em a piece of your mind.
rfs

Sonny

Illuminating. Now it starts to make sense how Sun Life never took a bailout.

11 Big suprises for the next decade:
The United States Remains World’s Strongest Economy-
In the second decade of the 21st century the United States was suffering. The economy was stagnating and was bouncing in and out from recessions and depressions. The military was involved in countless wars, and the personal and economic cost became unbearable. Beside that, the country suffered from record high crime rates, social unrest and political turmoil. But, the rest of the world was far worst. Europe has disintegrated, China has collapse, Russia remained a corrupt and failed state and India remained a poor and corrupt country fighting terrorist group. The world discovered that without the U.S locomotive the world economy couldn’t grow.http://israelfinancialexpert.blogspot.com/search/label/predictions%202010

jt

Where does the 80% number come from? The article said that the Fed bought 80% of the Treasuries last year. Can anyone send a link to the information where that came from?

aaron brandes

blah blah blah!!! go jump off a freaking bridge if your life is so miserable!!

hey dude the real world isnt on graph paper…as long as the sun rises and the world turns, people will get up every morning and look for something to eat. last time i checked the united states produces a massive food surplus year after year. also, thanks to the housing boom in the last decade we have plenty of stable buildings in this great land of our, we also have youtube. so by my recollection we’ve got everything we need to wait out a long and boring recession, depression or whatever else you want to call it.

until the sky actually start falling or the rain really stops falling on the midwestern plains … i think we’ll be ok

PEOPLE make the world go round NOT graph and certainly (despite what you may have been told) NOT economists (thank god!)

AC

The same sort of thing took place in 1933 – when FDR signed Executive Order 6102. The government essentially seized privately held gold. The 1934 Gold Reserve Act followed.

This literally scares the **** out of me. Before I stumbled upon this blog I had been thinking that we were kidding ourselves if we thought the economy would be ANYTHING like it was just a couple of years ago.

My wife and I pay our bills on time and never spend erroneously, yet we’ve had our credit limits slashed (no more unlimited Am Ex) and are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet month to month as companies get more creative with fees and surcharges.

Now I’m convinced we’re screwed.

David

Too Bad…AMERICANS ARE SO STUPID FOR NOT LEARNING ANYTHING FROM THEIR OWN PAST PROBLEMS….AFTER 2008-2009 WALL STREET BS…I NEVER SAW ONE RIOT ON THE STREET …EVERYONE FELT SO GOOD THAT THERE STOCKS WENT FROM $1 TO $5 THEY ALL FORGOT THAT THE SAME STOCK WAS $50-$70 TWO YEAR BEFORE…DUMB AMERICANS

Thanx a lot for this great article. Since the same phenomenon is happening in Europe, I have done a french translation of your text.

Keep writing !

Bruce

What needs to be done is everyone needs to stop paying on their credit cards…thats right, default. collapse the entire credit card industry completely. You won’t be getting any more credit after you pay them off anyway and if you do, your credit line will be decreased substantially. Stop the insanity (30% interest)..you keep making corporate america richer. Then, hard as this may seem…default on your car loans; thus collapsing the banks further. (Buy a cheap car, learn to pay cash for everything). Once the fat cats cant feed off the poor, let’s see them fail as well. The whole system needs to collapse before anyone in power will take notice. Wall street needs to collapse as well.. cash in your stocks and refuse to be owned by speculators. Let’s see the bastards start jumping off buildings like in the 1st Great Depression (we are now in the 2nd Great Depression…with NO HOPE of coming out). Do not do what you have been conditioned to do for years, stop following their rules, and stop listening to the government controlled media who wants you to be afraid of your neighbor and certain groups…you need to fear your government, and take steps now to do something about it.Chaos is coming soon, be prepared for it.

Down with the clowns

that is some funny stuff i love it

Chris Burleson

In the “Great Depression” of the 30’s, nobody expected a handout from the government, but now when the government runs out of money, those who receive welfare and food-stamps will be rioting, robbing, and raping!

Deborah Butler

Better learn how to love your neighbor, people-we’ll have to stick together when the bottom falls out, and it will fall out! How do I know? Read your Bible! Ya do have one don’tcha? It’s all in there people! Come on-here we are , and it won’t get any better. And there ain’t no use in waitin’ for hell to freeze over-the fires are bein’ stoked as I type this!

Its exasperating to know that we have to accept it as is! Life is getting tougher but I know there is still something we can do out of this heck.

Painesright

Yes, we are going to pay dearly for our sins. The worst one of which is that we killed (or stood by while others killed) our “golden goose”… our economy. It died a death by 1,000 cuts… and we will mourn our loss for generations to come.

It is being repeated everywhere that “capitalism failed”. That could not be farther from the truth.

The free market (Laissez-faire Capitalism) did not cause this crisis, the government (CRONY Capitalism/Socialism/Communism) did.

The free market did not create Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae and Sallie Mae, the government did.

The free market did not pass laws that force banks to lend to those who do not qualify for a loan, the government did.

The free market did not take us off the gold standard, the government did.

The free market did not dump trillions of dollars of cheap money into the system causing the largest asset bubble in history, the government did.

The free market did not create multiple multi-trillion-dollar unfunded entitlement programs, the government did.

The free market did not write a 60,000+ page tax code that punishes work, rewards sloth and buys the votes of special interest groups, the government did.

The free market did not destroy our public school system and graduate (or fail to graduate) generations of civically and financially illiterate citizens, the government did.

The free market did not drive our jobs overseas and kill our entrepreneurial spirit with over-taxation, over-regulation and frivolous lawsuits, the government did.

The free market did not ban drilling for oil, vilify coal and block the building of nuclear power plants in the United States, thereby transferring hundred of billions of dollars of American wealth and many thousands of energy-industry jobs to foreign countries, the government did.

This crisis is the result of a giant social engineering experiment and vote-buying scheme gone tragically wrong.

The free market does not try to engineer society or buy votes, the government does.

The government caused this crisis, the free market did not.

If there is any way to fix this crisis, the government cannot do it, only the free market can.

John Dow

The curse of millions of innocent victims of American imperialistic ways through out the world are slowly casting the darkest cloud all over the States the world has ever seen. Every great empire has come to an end and the judgment day for America is in the horizon.

adam

God causes all things,good and evil,to judge man.there will be NO solution for these events as WAS CLEARLY STATED IN THE BIBLE.deny self and come out of the babylonian,persia/medes/greece,roman catholic money system of self-worship.

call me Roy

Painesright is correct. Government is the problem and the only smart thing for every American to do is vote out every incumbant. Get Independents to run for office, like Ron Paul. Five years ago, I would point out comments Ron Paul expressed and people thought you were crazy. Now, most are starting too see the total corruption problem in politics. Glenn Beck is correct too. We need to go back to the basics and vote out the socialists, they don’t get it and never will.

The book of Zephaniah sums it up accurately:”I will utterly remove all things from off the face of the earth, says the LORD.
I will bring a stumbling block against the wicked; and I will destroy man from the face of the earth, says the LORD.
And those who are turned back from the LORD; and those who have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him.
Stand in awe at the presence of the LORD God; for the day of the LORD is at hand; yea, the LORD has prepared sacrifices, he has invited his quests.
And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD’S sacrifice that I will punish the princes and the kings’s children, and all such as are clothed in strange apparel.
In that day I WILL PUNISH ALL THOSE WHO DO VIOLENCE AND WHO DO PLUNDER, WHO FILL THEIR STOREROOMS WITH THINGS ACQUIRED BY MEANS OF EXTORTION AND DECEIT.
THEREFORE THEIR GOODS SHALL BECOME A BOOTY AND THEIR HOUSES A DESOLATION; THEY SHALL ALSO BUILD HOUSES, BUT NOT INHABIT THEM; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.
The great day of the LORD is near, it is very near, and hastens fast; even the voice of the day of the Lord; yea, it is bitter, harsh, and severe.
That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of confusion and desolation, a day of darkness, and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
A day of the trumpet and shouting AGAINST THE FENCED CITIES AND AGAINST THE HIGH TOWERS.
And I will bring distress upon MEN, that they SHALL WALK LIKE BLIND MEN, BECAUSE THEY HAVE SINNED AGAINST THE LORD; and their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.
NEITHER THEIR SILVER NOR THEIR GOLD SHALL BE ABLE TO DELIVER THEM in the day of the LORD’S wrath; but the whole land shall be consumed in the fire of his indignation; for he shalL make a speedy destruction against all the inhabitants of the earth.” (Zep.1:2-3,6-913-18)
His name is Yeshua, sent from Heaven to be crucified. Those who should have loved, turned and walked away…those who didn’t have eternal life.
His name is Yeshua, GOD’S Salvation Grace. Righteous Holiness, His name implies. For a sin-filled world, he lived,bled and died,raised and ascended to our Father’s Throne.
His name is Yeshua. YAHWEH’S Spirit Son; Wants the world to know that Love is blind. Renews hearts and minds…for His Kingdom come. Let His will be done forever more.
His name is Yeshua. Majestic Gloriness. Coming soon to judge the earth. Live to see the Son and His Gospel be done…the reading of GOD’S Word is the only way. Trust and Obey the Holy Spirit way. You’ll find your life transformed and changed as you walk His way.
His name is Yeshua. He’s soon to come as King. The parting of the clouds will be His sign. Look up to the sky and hear the trumpet cry. Always be prepared to be caught up on High.

Bekah82

As Christians who believe that Jesus Christ sacrificed his life for our sins, we have a hope through all of the hardship that once absent from this earth we will be present with our Heavenly Father. This gift is for free and for anyone who will accept it. It’s your choice, life or death. I chose life!

NJ guy

Phyllis and the rest of you idiotic holy rollers. WE are our own MASTERS. We make our life and the world around us.

If there was a God don’t you think he/she would have intervened someplace during the past few thousand years??

Len

NJ guy
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:46 pm
Phyllis and the rest of you idiotic holy rollers. WE are our own MASTERS. We make our life and the world around us.

If there was a God don’t you think he/she would have intervened someplace during the past few thousand years??

(God intervenes everyday and constantly. You have only to have the faith to see it. You are right, we are our own masters with free choice. That free choice was provided by God. The basis of your argument is that we should live in a eutopia for the precense of God to be proven. In your euopia nothing negative would occur. You cannot have a eutopia and free choice because evil is a reality that is proven. The fact that humans have the choice of evil uspets the balance, not God)

If you simply tax the wealth – not the income – but the WEALTH of the wealth holders inthe US you can quickly pay down the public debt and balance the budget.

If you ALSO decrease working hours while increasing minimum wage you instantly create mor ejobs that pay more which immediately pumps money into consumers hands that spend it and pay off their debt. This expand sthe economy and causes a huge boom.
This is EXACTLy what they did inthe 1930’s which got us out of the depression by 1933. by 1938 the us economy was equal to the overheated debt based economy of the 1929’s however by 1938 it was based on REAL economic activity becuase of highly paid now rich consumers spending their money.

It worked then and will work again.

their just aren’t enough starving people inthe streets yet to demand real chang einstead of the the fake change fronted by Obama who is really a republican (yes he is – look at what he has proposed and done -it’s exactly bush’s plan)

vivzizi

jacob h

To all the Christians…. get that crap out of here. Wake up, there isn’t a God, a 5th grade science book confirms that. Get educated. Stop being ignorant to science and fact.

jacob h

Vivzizi… that isn’t what brought us out of the first depression, it was ww2 and all the jobs it created, and all the money generated.
Get educated before posting, thank you.

Matthew

jacob h –

Your comment is an exaggeration. It is amazing that anyone could think a simple 5th grade science book proves God does not exists. If that is so, then why do people such as Steven Hawking, Einstein, Newton, Dr. Francis Collins, Antony Flew, and many other respected scientists agree that there must be something else, a “superior mind” as they refer to it that created our universe. Whether they believe that mind is the God of the Bible or not is moot. The point is, they are some of the smartest men to ever live, and yet they know there must be something more than just the physical universe we see. I concur with them. Stop listening to Dawkins and other obviously bitter atheists. Dawkins puts his own foot in his mouth many times:

* The account of the origin of life that I shall give is necessarily speculative; by definition, nobody was around to see what happened. – The Selfish Gene (1989) p.14
* Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose. – The Blind Watchmaker (1996)
* It is almost as if the human brain were specifically designed to misunderstand Darwinism, and to find it hard to believe. – The Blind Watchmaker (1996) p.316
* As an academic scientist I am a passionate Darwinian, believing that natural selection is, if not the only driving force in evolution, certainly the only known force capable of producing the illusion of purpose which so strikes all who contemplate nature. – The Devil’s Chaplain (2003) p.10
* Darwinian natural selection can produce an uncanny illusion of design. An engineer would be hard put to decide whether a bird or a plane was the more aerodynamically elegant. So powerful is the illusion of design, it took humanity until the mid-19th century to realise that it is an illusion. – NewScientist (September 17 2005) p.33

Yes, the universe was designed. It is no illusion, as Dawkins likes to try to cover it up. Design and purpose are all around us. The Kalam cosmological argument helps us understand that a “superior mind” was needed for our universe to exist. That which has a beginning must have a first cause. The universe had a beginning, therefore it had a first cause. That first cause must transcend time and space – our universe, by definition. This first cause is therefore God.

The universe is not eternal, science has proven that. Matter and energy came from somewhere. Matter and energy cannot come from absolute nothingness – no time, no space, no energy, no quantum particles, true pure nothingness. Therefore, our universe came from a being – a “superior mind” as Einstein called it. If Francis Collins (Human Genome Project), Stephen Hawking, Newton, Boyle, Planck (Planck’s constant), and Einstein believe(d) in a “superior mind”, then why do you have such a hard time believing it?

At the very least, your comment seems to indicate that these great scientists are all a bunch of idiots, or that they never read a 5th grade science book. Do you see how silly that sounds?

Matt

Man…
You guys have to look a little closer at things.
Our leaders are educated people. Most have law degrees, I would bet NONE are HS drop outs or that any of them made it to Washington with just a GED.

So my question was why then have they advanced such destructive policies? We know they are not really stupid people. There can be a case made that its nothing more than short sighted greed.

Heres a quote by Bill Clinton:

“When we got organized as a country and we wrote a fairly radical Constitution with a radical Bill of Rights, giving a radical amount of individual freedom to Americans… And so a lot of people say there’s too much personal freedom. When personal freedom’s being abused, you have to move to limit it. That’s what we did in the announcement I made last weekend on the public housing projects, about how we’re going to have weapon sweeps and more things like that to try to make people safer in their communities.” Said President Bill Clinton on MTV on March 3, 1994.

This is a very telling quote.

It shows the total lack of respect he really had for our form of Constitutional government. He describes our Constitution and freedoms as radical. Note how many times he uses the word radical.

“And so a lot of people say there’s too much personal freedom.”

Who is saying theres too much personal freedom? Who? You know anybody?
Our leaders, thats who. Clintons view is shared by many of our leaders. The Dems and Republicans may fight over flag burning issues and gay marriage, but when it comes to destroying our system, they work together. Seamless transition from Democratic Presidents to Republican presidents, on all the big issues. Issues like Nafta, trading with China, curbing our freedoms.

I charge that the phony prosperity and balanced budget during the Clinton years was nothing more than a trap. The illusion of prosperity lulled most Americans into believing in economic security, and as a result, they went out and bought big ticket items, and overpaid drastically for housing. They went deep into debt, and now they are enslaved to that debt.
We are being brought to our knees. And in time, after our suffering worsens, we will beg government for a solution.
And government will provide that solution, and its not one we are going to like.

They want to change our form of government.

Thats what this is all about. There will be no recovery.

Washington is simply not addressing the issues that got us into this mess in the first place. So I must conclude, Washington isn’t really trying to fix this mess.
Democrats are not going to save you, Republicans are not going to save you.

My best guess is to vote them ALL out. And term limits on all elected officials and appointees as well. Get rid of the lifers, including all non elected government workers. Flush them all out, and put control of the government back in the hands of the American people, and out of the hands of special interest and the global elite.

Matt

I gotta say this too.
Its a critical mistake to think that turning congress over to the republicans this fall is going to fix anything. It never did before.
Under “conservative” president Bush, we had a huge expansion of the size of the federal government. We had massive deficits, and massive borrowing. We were handed the freedom shredding USA Patroit Act.

Whether they call themselves left or right, conservative or liberal, doesn’t matter.

I cannot justify rewarding the Republican party after 8 long years of Bush mismanagement and bad policies. BOTH parties have to go.

Vote Republican, and you might as well be voting for Obama. The Dems and Reps, are nothing more than the left and right arms of the same Frankenstien monster.
Oh they fight over health care, but who’s balancing the budget? Who’s creating conditions to make it favorable for companies to pull manufacturing out of China and bring it back here? Who is expressing an interest in restoring our lost rights?
Neither party.

Push for biodiesel from sewage wastewater effluent, every city & town has a treatment plant, Phoenix, AZ, has 10-million gallons/day that carries 83-million pounds of nutrients the algae have to eat before tomorrow, at the end the water is purified and recycled.

Line the Mississippi River and all its tributaries with biomass harvesters and squeeze that for the fuel for power plants and other large-scale energy uses.

Use thermal-mass in homes to reduce the energy needed to keep them comfortable, the pit house is thousands of years old and about 1,000 times more efficient in conserving energy than a modern home, put bricks in a sunlit window and they heat the room at night, this can be engineered and when it is like some adobe homes, the house can even stay cool in summer; all that power is now off the grid, what’s left?

These will spur a revolution, both economic and social, screw the system, it’s oppressive at the least and destroys the planet for sure.

For integrated solar-direct & solar-thermal architecture, and using biomass processing for home waste my houses supply the residents with their biodiesel from a miniaturized system, no money for this stuff but it’s possible: http://www.mallar-design.com

Tony

Like Matt, I too believe that the government is moving toward less personal freedom. Shake-downs at airports are a subtle reminder to all that ‘at the end of the day, we the government control you’.
Yes, Obama and company are making many moves that do nothing to change the core problems of the economy; and yes GWB is largely responsible for the current financial mess.
Congress that spent hundreds of man hours drafting high-res televisions rules while banks frittered away depositors funds, is the biggest fraud of all.
Vote them all out of office.

Seems that the uber-corporations are loving this because they get all kinds of spineless, cheap labor. People are afraid to say anything to their bosses for fear of being fired and replaced by one of the thousands scratching at the door to take their job. That and they can do cut-and-runs: joining a company then leaving with a nice severance package.

Part of the issue, I think, is that the average worker isn’t trying to flex their muscle to make the companies bend to their will. It’s the people at the bottom of the mega-corporations who actually do the work, and if they start making demands as a whole, companies will be forced to start paying them better because any replacement they bring in will have the same attitude. Unfortunately so many of us give undeserved and unlimited homage to people at the top of the food chain that don’t know what they’re doing.

James

The future is bleak. But remember: “If my people, who are dcalled by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”–2 Chrinicles 7:14.

As we organize our peaceful revolution for next fall, don’t forget to pray.

Jesus will be here in just a few more days and I along with all the other sinful souls who have humbled ourseleves before him and asked to be forgiven will be whisked away.

Sadly for the vast majority of the inhabitants of planet earth seven years of tribulation which culminates in the entire world at war against Israel followed by an eternity in hell is all they have to look forward to.

As you are reading this post there is a great and ongoing conspiracy world-wide both to destroy our present economic structure so that it can be replaced with a new system altogether and simultaneously strip citizens of the globe of their most basic human rights.

All of this will be accomplished just in time for the seven most sorrowful and terrifying years the world has and will ever know. All the while- the workers of such a grand and global conspiracy have no clue whatsoever that they are pawns of Satan himself, in their mind they are the masters, working tirelessly to secure their wealth:

“For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” -I Timothy 6.10

The Federal Government controls your healthcare now, the US Senate is working to outlaw home gardens and our economy is truthfully dead at this very moment (To be fair we can say that it is on life support).

All of this is preparing the way for The Anti-Christ… The man preachers have been warning about for two thousand years now- he’s undoubtedly here and walking upon the face of the globe today and immediately following the ‘ultimate tragedy’ of every child on the planet as well as every believer worldwide vanishing into thin air, not to mention the economic catastrophe that will follow the stunned powers of the world will be more than ready to surrender their sovereignty over to this spawn of Satan.

“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” -Revelation 13.16-18

God will judge the wickedness of this world so harshly that men will resort to suicide as a means of escape, yet even that will fail them:

“And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.” -Revelation 9.6

The Bible tell us that the Anti-Christ who was once celebrated so greatly will begin to lose his popularity as disease, depression and pain ravish the planet. He then will go forth conquering “with the sword” and will lead a million man army from the east towards the helpless nation of Israel.

In a perfectly climatic manner, just as the nation of Israel will be on the verge of total annihilation Jesus Christ himself will appear from heaven. Instantly all the inhabitants of planet earth will see him for who he truly is- the conquering Lamb of God… but by then it will be too late:

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.” -Revelation 19.11-21

I know that by now I must sound to you like some sort of religious nut job and I suppose to some degree you may be right- The Bible does call Christians peculiar:

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;” -I Peter 2.9

However, I feel deep in my soul a true longing to share this message with everyone I possibly can before it’s too late.

For those of you who are holding onto the attitude, “Well I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and if what he says ends up coming true then I’ll get right.” BEWARE: God will be your enemy during the tribulation (I’m not at all saying this as the wicked and false “church” Westboro Baptist says it, I’m simply stating to you what the Bible says in a loving manner)- God will send the inhabitants of planet earth a strong delusion so that they will believe a lie rather than the truth… And when God is sending you a delusion there is no way at all you’re going to get out of it.

“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:” -II Thess. 2.11

So what am I getting at by this incredibly long post?

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” -Ecc. 12.3

“But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” -Romans 10.8-13

Barry

Sometime in 2010 US is going to be hit by a Cat 5 economic depression of Biblical proportions. This is going to come as a surprise and shock to all Americans rich and poor. Remember Katrina..that will sound like a walk in the park. Because this is going to be the real deal!
All macroeconomic indicators are buzzing now with warning signals, warning of an impending crash..but the captain is still oblivious and following his voodoo economics like all American economists and presidents have been doing in the past. Good luck America!
By the end of 2010 Zombie Americans will be walking around dazed in the streets of big cities not knowing what has hit them or changed their lifestyles forever.

nohomehere

I really liked , in my opinion the true scenario pictured by matt ” we have been brought to our knees …after time suffering worsens … beg for Gov. solution …they want to change our form of Gov. …there will be no recovery…and I think besides these things our vote will be nullified by the electronic voting .No , this is a curse from on high for our sins ! and nothing can save you but living the faith and obedient lifestyle to gods laws of love and mercy . Anyway you can’t say you weren’t warned by hollywood ! movies like running man with state controlled slander of anyone who speaks the truth about the way things really are and their game-show mass media hysteria does this mean that arnold is really ok? wow! or a shortage of trebidium a basic need for human survival and the willingness of the leaders allow to die a hole group of people under the guise of a shortage and resultant rebellion ( marshall law and the brought it on them selves) cause they wouldn’t behave . and the list goes on soylent green ,andromeda strain,1984 ,Farenheit 451, Logans run , red dawn, the day after , cuba ! an what a thought , a bunch of cubies in america under russian , possible nato command ! Talk about God humbling pride . well!” thats all i got to say about that”

God (or, if you are a non-believer, no God) has nothing to do with our economic predicament. This was caused by greedy people. The description in the original article is 100% on target.

It is the nature of the system we live in, and the notion of “free trade” that has got us into this predicament.

The only way out is abandonment of free trade, ultimate collapse of the multinational corporations (actually very likely, and I will be cheering from the sidelines), self-help groups and organizations in our towns and cities to prevent mass impoverishment (which for some would actually mean starvation). Some are predicting 25% unemployment. I would put the figure more like 50%.

It will mean rebuilding local agriculture and, eventually, local small manufacturing again, using the used materials and hulks of the defunct multinationals, and using an alternative to the current money supply controlled by the bankers, wealthy investors, and multinational corporations who caused this mess in the first place.

If there were a way to tax the wealth of the wealthiest, then that might be a possibility, but they also control the government and the military, so that is unlikely to happen. In any case their wealth is mostly paper-based, having no meaning in a self-helping society that is free of the bondage of the current monetary system.

The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.
‘You’re a Christian, aren’t you, son?’

‘Yes sir,’ the student says.

‘So you believe in God?’

‘Absolutely. ‘

‘Is God good?’

‘Sure! God’s good.’

‘Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?’

‘Yes’

‘Are you good or evil?’

‘The Bible says I’m evil.’

The professor grins knowingly. ‘Aha! The Bible! He considers for a moment. ‘Here’s one for you. Let’s say there’s a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?’

‘Yes sir, I would.

‘So you’re good…!’

‘I wouldn’t say that.’

‘But why not say that? You’d help a sick and maimed person if you could.
Most of us would if we could. But God doesn’t.’

The student does not answer, so the professor continues. ‘He doesn’t, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Can you answer that one?’

The student remains silent. ‘No, you can’t, can you?’ the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. ‘Let’s start again, young fella. Is God good?’

‘Er..yes,’ the student says.

‘Is Satan good?’

The student doesn’t hesitate on this one. ‘No.

‘Then where does Satan come from?’

The student falters. ‘From God’

‘That’s right. God made Satan, didn’t he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?’

‘Yes, sir..’

‘Evil’s everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything, correct?’

‘Yes’

‘So who created evil?’ The professor continued, ‘If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.’

Again, the student has no answer. ‘Is there sickness? Immorality?
Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?’

The student squirms on his feet. ‘Yes.’

‘So who created them?’

The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. ‘Who created them?’ There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized. ‘Tell me,’ he continues onto another student. ‘Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?’

The student’s voice betrays him and cracks. ‘Yes, professor, I do.’

The old man stops pacing. ‘Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?’

‘No sir. I’ve never seen Him.’

‘Then tell us if you’ve ever heard your Jesus?’

‘No, sir, I have not..’

‘Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus?
Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?’

‘No, sir, I’m afraid I haven’t.’

‘Yet you still believe in him?’

‘Yes’

‘According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn’t exist… What do you say to that, son?’

‘Nothing,’ the student replies.. ‘I only have my faith.’

‘Yes, faith,’ the professor repeats. ‘And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.’

The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His own. ‘Professor, is there such thing as heat? ‘

‘ Yes.

‘And is there such a thing as cold?’
‘Yes, son, there’s cold too.’

‘No sir, there isn’t.’

The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly become s very quiet. The student begins to explain. ‘You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don’t have anything called ‘cold’. We can hit down to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees. Everybody or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat.
You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.’

Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.

‘What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?’

‘Yes,’ the professor replies without hesitation.. ‘What is night if it isn’t darkness?’

‘You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it’s called darkness, isn’t it? That’s the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, darkness isn’t. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?’

The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. ‘So what point are you making, young man?’

‘Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.’

The professor’s face cannot hide his surprise this time. ‘Flawed? Can you explain how?’

‘You are working on the premise of duality,’ the student explains..
‘You argue that there is life and then there’s death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can’t even explain a thought.’
‘It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.
Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.’ ‘Now tell me, professor.. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?’

‘If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.’

‘Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?’

The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed

‘Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?

The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided. ‘To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.’ The student looks around the room. ‘Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor’s brain?’ The class breaks out into laughter. ‘Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor’s brain, felt the professor’s brain, touched or smelt the professor’s brain? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir.’ ‘So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?’

Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable. Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. ‘I Guess you’ll have to take them on faith.’

‘Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,’ the student continues. ‘Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?’
Now uncertain, the professor responds, ‘Of course, there is. We see it every day. It is in the daily example of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in The multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world.
These manifestations are nothing else but evil.’

To this the student replied, ‘Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart.
It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.

The professor sat down.

PS: the student was Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein wrote a book titled God vs. Science in 1921…

HecatesMoon

Wow. I am an agnostic at best. I’m sittin’ on the fence. I tend to lean towards atheism more often than not though. Still, what a neat story. I really enjoyed reading your comment.

Barry

To hell with the American Dream…I lived in Vegas during the boom days in 2005 and 2006 at the height of the hosuing and employment boom. It was easy to make “Easy Money” back then. I made some money too. Alot of people advised me to invest in real estate and at least have your own home. Those were really rosy words to the ear. But I resisted the temptation and stayed away. I remained liquid. And after 2006 everything went to hell. Housing will never recover in Vegas…and now with the Gulf oil spill, Florida housing and real estate is drop dead. So everything is collapsing pretty much around you. So I never bought a house and now never will. As long as I’m in the good old USA say goodbye to the American Dream.

Cathy

Jonathan Campbell: Social justice? That’s bull****. Try survival of the fittest. And FREEDOM, which we will NOT have with this “social justice” bull****.

American conducted by corrupt and evils corporate. They gain benefit for hundreds years. The American citizen will earn the darkness, but those corrupt corporate can establish their new empire else wehere.

@Snopes
The importance of that debate is recognizing that there’s no such thing as debt, only the abscence of money… -:)

Cathy

Matthew: Your comment is an exaggeration. It is amazing that anyone could think a simple 5th grade science book proves God does not exists. If that is so, then why do people such as Steven Hawking, Einstein, Newton, Dr. Francis Collins, Antony Flew, and many other respected scientists agree that there must be something else, a “superior mind” as they refer to it that created our universe.
———————-
Hey Matthew…A letter in which Albert Einstein dismissed the idea of God as the product of human weakness and the Bible as “pretty childish” sold at auction for $404,000. Einstein rejected organized faith but often spoke of a spiritual force at work in the universe. EXACTLY how I feel.

No Country for Old Men

Degrees in law, business administration, accounting or women’s studies are not evidence of educations. The only real educations are our sciences. The reason our economies are collapsing and the fabric of social cohesion unravelling is because no-one bothered to collect and objectively analyze data in compliance with the Scientific Method. The problems of our economy are easily understood in terms of basic mathematics and science. It’s just that no-one bothered to do it. This kind of laziness and malignant narcissism has resulted in our present circumstances. Also, many of the problems with our economy and lack of analysis can be traced to feminism and women in the work place, voting and owning property. Big mistake when all the resources of the State are redirected from basic necessisties for survival to filling the bottomless well of a woman’s emotions – better known as solipsism. There is no solution to our problems. I agree that what turned us around after the Great Depression was World War II and not any government policies. I believe that our current circumstances are God’s wrath and God will forgive those who are contrite and ask for His forgiveness. I hope this is true.

Michael McLendon

America is a country in decline due to social, political and economic corruption. Corruption in itself denotes a rejection of morality and the concept of morality is based on faith and religion. It is exactly the viewpoints of the atheists; i.e., truth is only how one perceives it, that has wrecked the nation. Congrats on your exceptional accomplishment.

Karen Scribner

Print some more money and protect the electric grid from the predicted electromagnetic pulse. (EMPs have already melted transformers in two other countries.)

Stasi

To Jacob H and the rest of the Atheists:

A fifth grade science book confirms there is no God? I don’t know what fifth grade science book you’re reading. The ones that promote that embarrasing, unprovable evolution theory because certain people are so blinded and arrogant to see that there really is a God? It is not a faith verses science issue. Genuine faith and genuine science are not at odds with one another because the author is the same. There is more scientific evidence to support creatism than evolution. REAL science and faith are not contradictory. The phony fake science that atheists promote because they are scared to admit there is a God is a lie.

Death.

Even Stephen Hawkins king of human scientists is inconclusive weather there is a God responsible for
the universe we live in. One on philosophical context cannot prove the existence of God nor can one prove there is none. Its a argument is spurious on both sides. When you think about it both the Godly and Atheists will suffer equally and your human masters can only put ridicule on your ideas- whatever the view.Peoples lives go on economic collapse or not.

USSR collapsed. Germany did after WWI. Iraq was in ruins and Afghanistan is a living hell. We are living
in the decline of a great empire yes but there can be a rebirth as well if you choose not to see the self destructive aspects. There is also a petroleum age is coming to a end due to problems in the Middle East and the consumerist society since WWII is coming
to a end. I don’t like people who take advantage of crises either and use them to exploit sinister agendas.

When the Roman Armies left Gaul and Britain- the people continued to live under whatever army of\r King they were under. Replace King with leader-politician today.

This happens every so many thousand years from prosperity a decline- then a rebirth. Some countries
may flourish others may go into the abyss. Its up to
the people in every country for the choice- weather
to dig their bunker or to help on-another. I choose
the latter.

There are 2 things at the heart of all this economic trouble. First, there is a conspiracy to institute world wide dictatorship. NAFTA, GAT and all this globalization BS was designed to take the US down. That’s right, it was meant to destroy the country that supports freedom and democracy around the world. Second, the US is now a Fascist state. The constitution is all but dead! Corporations and wealthy individuals are writing the laws, staffing government regulatory agencies and just plain buying votes in congress. Both sides, Republican and Democrat, are working for the same people and it’s not the American people. Our leaders are participating in traitorous activities and harming our country.

John

Arrogance and Greed.

pbr90

What goes up must come down?
The baby boom bulge (in every nation) has behaved similarly throughout its long life; it’s all demographics to be managed financially. How is America doing?